Choose a category of at-risk students identified in Ch. 4 of the text.
o Use the Internet and Library databases to research one or more exemplary programs in your state, school district, and/or community that help meet the needs of the selected group of at-risk students.
o Write a 700- to 1,100-word paper that includes your description of the category of at-risk students you chose, and the program(s) you found for the selected type of at-risk students. Explain what components make the program(s) beneficial and ‘exemplary’. Evaluate how well the programs ensure they reach all targeted students and how well students’ needs are met.

Because we are not privy to your textbook nor to that Chapter 4, after you select the program(s) and/or write your paper, will be glad to help. Please make it clear as to the type of help you would like:

Drop-outs make up one category of "at-risk" students. They are usually indentifiable by their low grades and low attendance, especially since about 5th or 6th grade. Their interest in school is waning; they see little purpose in going to school. Sometimes, they also need to work in order to help their families meet their food-clothing-housing needs.

Search for successful drop-out prevention programs schools in Google. Read, read, read until you find something that is recent or going on right now and has shown success by means of data, not just stories.

One elementary school in Phoenix, Arizona, targets homeless children as its primary
clients (Sandham, 2000). It sends school buses around the city to pick up
these children and maintains a clothing room that students can visit to get clean underwear
and changes of clothes. Volunteer pediatricians staff an on-site clinic that
provides free medical care and immunizations. The school even hands out alarm
clocks (old-fashioned windups because many of the children don’t have access to
electricity) to help the children get to school on time in the morning. Teacher dedication
and effort make the school work. One teacher commented, “There’s something
about watching the buses roll out of here, with all the kids’ faces pressed
against the windows. I get this feeling it’s what I should be doing” (Sandham,
2000, p. 29).
As a teacher, what can you do about homeless children? While seemingly simple
and insignificant, the most important responses are to be caring and flexible. Demonstrating
that you genuinely care about students and their learning is important for all
children. For those that are homeless, it’s essential.
Socioeconomic Status and School Success Socorro is a fifth grader who is struggling
in school. When a researcher went to her house to find out why, here is what he found:
• ● •
When interviewing Socorro’s mother, Nick passed through the apartment apparently returning
to work after taking a brief break. The phone rang. Socorro’s 5-year-old stepbrother curled
up in his mother’s lap and began talking into her ear. The television was on. There is a television
in every room; one is Socorro’s. Cable. The apartment is spotlessly clean. Life is busy,
very busy. Once off the phone, the mother exclaims, proudly, “I let her do whatever she wants
. . . she does whatever she wants.” Working two jobs, one in housekeeping at a nearby hospital
and another, an evening job as a parking lot attendant to obtain money for a promised
trip to Disneyland, leaves her no option: She is not home often. Socorro’s father pays regular
child support. While not at work, her mother’s brother, who lives with the family and spends
much of his day watching television, tends the children when they are home. Irritated, Socorro
said that her uncle expects to be waited on, and she doesn’t like it. “I want to support my kids,”
the mother says, and this requires that she is “never home for them.” She works very hard.
Socorro’s problem in school, her mother asserts, is that “her mind wanders.” Her teachers
tell another tale: Socorro cannot read and is struggling. Her mother seems unconcerned
that Socorro frequently misses school. As her teacher said: “She is out of school
more than she is in it.” Attending school irregularly, Socorro is slipping further and further
behind her classmates. Concerned, teachers made arrangements to place Socorro for part
of the day with the special education teacher. They didn’t know what else to do, having
failed to gain the mother’s help in getting Socorro to school regularly. (Bullough, 2001, p. 33)
• ● •
Socioeconomic status is related to school success in several ways. For example,
compared to students from low-SES backgrounds, high-SES students score higher on
intelligence and achievement tests, get better grades, miss less school, and have fewer
suspensions (Macionis, 2003). School dropout rates for students from poor families
are twice those of the general population; for students from the poorest families, they
exceed 50 percent. In summarizing the powerful influence of SES on learning, one researcher
noted that “the relationship between test scores and SES is one of the most
widely replicated findings in the social sciences” (Konstantopoulos, 1997, p. 5).
What might cause these differences? At least five factors related to socioeconomic
status influence student performance:
• Fulfillment of basic needs
• Family stability
Chapter 4 Changes in American Society 135
• School-related experiences
• Interaction patterns in the home
• Parental attitudes and values
Fulfillment of basic needs is something that many families in the United States
take for granted. Many low-SES families, however, lack adequate medical care, and an
increasing number of children are coming to school without proper nourishment and
adequate rest.
The quality of home life influences student learning and performance. In some
low-SES families daily struggles and economic problems lead to parental frustration,
anger, and depression. These pressures can also lead to marital conflicts that result in
unstable home environments (Conger et al., 1992). Children then come to school
without a sense of safety and security, and they are less equipped to tackle schoolrelated
challenges.
Children’s exposure to school-related experiences influences their learning as
well. For example, high-SES parents are more likely than low-SES parents to provide
their children with educational activities outside of school (such as visits to museums,
concerts, bookstores, and libraries), to have materials at home that support learning
(such as computers, calculators, newspapers, encyclopedias, and dictionaries), and to
arrange for formal educational experiences outside of school (such as music or dance
lessons, religious instruction, or computer classes) (Economic Policy Institute, 2002).
These experiences provide a learning base that helps students succeed in school activities.
Minority and low-SES students, however, are less likely to participate in enriching
activities in the community as well as in extracurricular activities provided by
schools (McNeal, 1997), often because of work demands, transportation problems, or
a simple lack of awareness that the opportunities exist.
The ways in which parents interact with their children can help or hinder learning
(Chance, 1997). Experts estimate that by the age of 3, children with professional
parents have heard 30 million words, children with working-class parents have heard
20 million, and children with parents on welfare have heard 10 million. Low-SES
parents are more likely to “tell” rather than explain and are more likely to emphasize
conformity and obedience instead of individual responsibility or initiative. Their language
is less elaborate, their directions are less clear, and they are less likely to encourage
problem solving. High-SES parents talk more with their children, explain
ideas and the causes of events, encourage independent thinking, and emphasize individual
responsibility (Berk, 2003, 2004; Macionis, 2003). These discussions promote
language development and prepare children for the kind of verbal interaction
found in the schools (Heath, 1989). Sometimes called “the curriculum of the
home,” these rich interaction patterns, together with the enrichment experiences described
in the previous paragraph, provide a foundation for reading and vocabulary
development.
Finally, parental attitudes and values about schooling and learning shape students’
attitudes and values. As mentioned earlier, reading materials are more likely to be
found in high-SES homes. Parents who enjoy books, newspapers, and magazines communicate
that the information they contain is valuable and that reading itself is a useful
activity. When children see their parents read, they imitate the behavior, which
influences learning. Students who read at home show larger gains in reading achievement
than those who do not (E. Hiebert & Raphael, 1996).
Parents also communicate their attitudes through the expectations they hold for
their children and through their involvement in children’s activities. High-SES parents
and caregivers are more likely to expect their children to graduate from high
school and attend college, and they communicate these expectations in conversations

i read it several times and have no idea. we have a program for kids that are behind on credits they can go to if they are atleast 17 yrs old. this place they do not give you credits. you have to take every class over again. it helps you get an HSED instead of a high school diploma/\.

Hello! I am a student from Romania and I am writting a paper on School Social Work. The information about the low SES is extremely useful to me. Can somebody please give me the title of the book where I can find it? This is very much appreciated, for the progress of Science in Romania.
Thank you, Daria Sass